Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 49: Plasmonics and nanooptics: Light-matter interaction, spectroscopy I

O 49.2: Talk

Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 14:45–15:00, HSZ/0403

Electro-Optic Phonon Polaritons — •Michael S. Spencer¹, Olga Minakova¹, Maximilian Frenzel¹, Joanna M. Urban¹, Martin Wolf¹, and Sebastian F. Maehrlein^1,2,3 — ¹FHI Berlin — ²HZDR — ³TU Dresden

Ultrafast control of fundamental excitations and order parameters represents a major driving force for the rising field of terahertz (THz) cavity electrodynamics. However, most efforts to date have not taken full advantage of THz sampling capabilities. By using an electro-optic crystal to fill a cavity, we directly measure intra-cavity electric fields, and polarizations arising from dipole-active excitations, all in the time domain. We identify that under cryogenic conditions, and in high-quality cavities, a polaritonic state is formed from the superposition of cavity photons and optical phonons. We explore the relationship between the light-matter coupling strength and temperature, and between the polariton splitting and cavity quality factor. With our novel electro-optic cavity design, we are able to investigate the detuning-dependence of the strong coupling behavior, obtaining the full picture of light-matter interactions. Furthermore, we reveal fluence-dependent polariton dynamics, indicative of significant coupling beyond the harmonic approximation. This identification of strong light-matter interactions in electro-optic cavities opens an important new testing ground for measuring novel, light-matter-entangled states.

Keywords: Polariton; Cavity Electrodynamics; Phonon Polariton; Strong Coupling; Electro-optic Sampling